Swedish prosecutors drop 2016 probe into Fingerprint Cards

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - The Swedish Economic Crime Authority said on Tuesday it had discontinued an investigation launched in December 2016 into market abuse involving Fingerprint Cards.

The agency had launched a probe into the Swedish smartphone touch sensor maker’s chief executive Johan Carlstrom after large volumes of shares were traded in the days before a profit warning by the company.

The agency did not mention Carlstrom by name but said in a statement it had dropped the probe related to Fingerprint’s Dec. 8, 2016 profit warning due to insufficient evidence.

The agency is still investigating Carlstrom in a separate probe, launched in 2014, also for alleged market abuse.

“I expect that we will be able to conduct that trial in March 2018 as indicated earlier by the district court,” prosecutor Olof Kronlund said in the statement on that case.

Carlstrom, who has denied allegations in both probes, was replaced as CEO in 2014 following the launch of the probe. He stepped down formally in 2015 but remains a major shareholder in the company.